Category
Curiosities
40 articles
Stockholm Syndrome Was Born to Silence a Hostage
The famous syndrome didn't come from a study: the police's own psychiatrist coined it to discredit a hostage who criticized him. It isn't in the DSM.
Procrastination: The Vice That Infuriated the Romans Who Coined the Word
Procrastination comes from the Latin «cras», tomorrow. Hesiod scolded procrastinators 2,700 years ago and Cicero declared it hateful. We're not the first.
Asimov: The Man Who Wrote About Everything (Literally)
Isaac Asimov published some 500 books: science fiction, yes, but also history, chemistry, Shakespeare, the Bible and even humor. This is his story.
Serendipity: The Word Born in a Letter From 1754
Few words have an exact birth certificate. Serendipity was born on January 28th, 1754, in a private letter — and its root is the old name of Sri Lanka.
The Doctor Who Toasted With Bacteria and Won a Nobel
Nobody believed a bacterium caused ulcers. Fed up, Barry Marshall drank a culture of it, made himself sick on purpose, and changed medicine.
Spam: The First Junk Email in History
On May 3rd, 1978, a salesman sent the first unsolicited mass email to 400 people. That we call it “spam” is the fault of a can of ham.
“Bizarro” Doesn't Mean What You Think
For centuries, the Spanish word “bizarro” meant brave and gallant. How a false friend stole a word's meaning — and how the dictionary surrendered.
The Man Who Has Edited a Third of Wikipedia
Steven Pruitt has made nearly 7 million Wikipedia edits without earning a cent. The story of the most generous obsession on the internet.
The Origin of the Word “Petrichor”
The smell of rain has had a name since 1964: petrichor, “the blood of the gods flowing from stone”. This is its story — and its science.
The Giant Stones of Yap and What Money Really Is
On a tiny Pacific island, money was made of giant stones — some so heavy they never moved, and one of them sat at the bottom of the sea.
The Car That Runs on Firewood: Old Technology Cuba Is Reviving Out of Necessity
The idea caught my attention after seeing a video posted on YouTube by Reuters, showing
Fiction or Prophecy? 20 Cartoons and Films That Predicted Our Present
For decades, animation and film have served as windows into possible futures. What once seemed like
Everest Is NOT the World's Tallest Mountain!
First, let's be clear: Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain—as long as you measure from sea level, which has been the custom.
Who stole Einstein's brain and then walked it around in the trunk of his car?
Albert Einstein was undoubtedly one of the best known characters of the 20th century. A certain veneration for his
The History of Smiling in Photographs: From the Mona Lisa to Digital Cameras
I recently posted on Twitter an old colorized photo of several people and it didn't take long
Punta de Piedras and the Oyster Sauté
Not so long ago, just a few handfuls of decades, the city was besieged by pirates. They stole the
Tuvalu: The Archipelago That Sold Its Stamps
Tuvalu is a small archipelago in Polynesia. Its population, just over 10,000 inhabitants, doesn't
The last purple on the planet
In the Prado Museum, in Madrid, there is a painting by the famous Rubens, entitled The Discovery of the
The Volcano of San Vicente
Near the city of Salinas, Ecuador, there is a sign that indicates a short detour to the “Baños
Are We Raising an Overstimulated Generation?
When I was a kid I left school at noon and traveled a long road home
Retro Tech Vintage Computer Club
What started out as a crazy idea took shape. A few years ago my friend Vicente Adum (Chento)
The old Texas Instruments Compact Computer 40 laptop
After writing the brief review of the EPSON HX-20: the first laptop ever, I decided
The First Laptop in History: EPSON HX-20.
Review of the first laptop in history, invented by EPSON. It had a printer included and a battery that gave it incredible autonomy.
Hidden details in the photograph of a Guayaquil tram
Author: Vicente Adum Gilbert, June 11, 2020 I have had this image in my digital collection of photographs
Medardo Ángel Silva and Pavlova's Dance
Written by: Vicente Adum G. This video features the famous ballerina Anna Pavlova performing The Dying
When We Brushed Our Teeth with Radioactive Toothpaste and Drank Coca-Cola with Cocaine
The title may sound bizarre, but throughout history humanity has used the most
The miraculous malaria cure that became a gin and tonic
Before the arrival of the Spanish, the aboriginal tribes of South America knew of the miraculous property of the
The Men Who Carried Cuenca's Light on Their Shoulders
Electric light, the first car and even a protest jeep all reached Cuenca carried on human shoulders. The most epic isolation story in the Andes.
The strange parties to inhale anesthesia of the early 19th century
Nitrous oxide was one of the first effective anesthetics discovered, but it did not always have that important use.
The Voice of the last Castrato. The only known recording of the famous singer Alessandro Moreschi.
Long ago, prosperity and fame were the coveted awards for those extraordinary voices who
Looking for the lost Eiffel bridge in Ecuador
A few months ago (2013), reading a book on the history of the Ecuadorian railroad, I came across a paragraph
The almost unknown bet that changed the history of humanity.
If there is a turning point that changed the course of humanity, it was the revelation by
The most numerous animals on the planet are also the least known. The infamous case of krill and springtails.
The reader may be surprised to learn that the most numerous animals on the planet are not the
The dance plague of 1518, the Pied Piper of Hamelin and the tarantulas
Have you ever wondered where the meaning of the term "atarantado" comes from, when it means "stunned, scared, confused"? ... Well, yes,
Mysteriously endless experiments. Can they work indefinitely? One of them has been in operation since the 19th century.
They will sound like two science fiction stories, but they are not. These are experiments or devices that, even
Who was the true inventor of the telephone? The controversy surrounding Graham Bell.
Today we all assume as an indisputable truth that Alexander Graham Bell was the inventor of the telephone, but
Converting an old radio into a tube guitar amp (vacuum tubes)
One of the little-known uses for an old tube (or tube) radio
A 19th-Century Marketing Strategy: The Beautiful Collectible Cards of Liebig Meat Extract
In the mid-19th century, German chemist Justus von Liebig developed a highly nutritious meat concentrate and
Our contextual reasoning doesn't always help
A couple of months ago I was passing through the Santiago de Chile airport and while I was waiting
Electric vehicles, an invention that we forget, because of oil, but they have existed since the 19th century.
I love collecting old books, and the more technical the better. Treatises of chemistry, anatomy, steam locomotives, electricity,